Normal service has been resumed 2008/10/20

I apologise for the lack of updates and comment-approvals. WordPress has refused to let me log in to the blog for the best part of a month. Having tried all the regular orifices I’ve finally forced my way back in through the ribcage, have performed some open-heart surgery on bits and bobs, and we should be back to normal.

What have I missed? Well, The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen has been rereleased. The limited-edition hardcover looks gorgeous and has sold out at the publisher, so if you see a copy then snap it up. There will be a launch event for it on Wednesday next week (29th October) at 01Zero-One in Soho, in collaboration with pervasive-gaming mavens Sandpit and as part of the London Games FestivalFringe—doors 6.30pm, all welcome, free entry and booze.

The day after the Munchausen launch I’m running an all-day workshop on tabletop game design and paper prototyping at the same venue, 01Zero-One. You need to register in advance for this, but it’s only a fiver and should be fun. I’m hoping that by the end of the day we’ll not only have shared pearls of wisdom but we’ll also have a complate playable prototype of a game. This event is also part of the LGF Fringe.

And then on Friday 31st October—yes, it’s a busy week for me—I am speaking at Playful: Game Design London which is (oh yes) another part of the LGF Fringe. I asked for a nice quiet mid-afternoon slot so I could do something a bit technical about methods of generating narrative through gameplay. Instead I discover to my horror that I am the first speaker. This will be… interesting. I’m not quite sure what I’ll be talking about, but it’s unlikely to be self-generating narratives. Luckily I will be followed by the awesome Roo Reynolds, the double-awesome Russell Davies, the HonBros, Tom Armitage, Matt Biddulph and Alex Fleetwood, to only mention the speakers I know personally, so it should be a terrific day. Cheap at £25.

The Dragon Warriors rulebook is at the printers. And I am discussing a very interesting project with some major publishers, but for obvious reasons I can’t say a word about that yet.

7 Comments

I bought the Baron’s book on foot of a recommendation from a certain Noted Industry Figure (whose blog is here: http://thatsnotmysquid.com/blog/). I would like to say that I think it is excellent, and look forward to filling a handful of friends with booze and telling some tall tales.

Seeing you mentioning narrative in gaming makes me want to ask- have you heard about what they’re doing with Far Cry 2? I’m generally not that into modern militaristic FPS games, but several sources have trumpeted the adaptive/procedural storytelling system in the game. It sounds very ‘Proppian’- characters and locations are mostly interchangeable/there for flavor, but the player’s actions build the story and drive where the narrative goes. Have you seen or talked to anyone about it?

I’m afraid there were no notes or handouts: it wasn’t really that kind of workshop–more of a free-for-all discussion. Fascinating stuff, very differing levels and areas of experience, from paper-prototypers to product-designers. I am gratified to say it sold out, and with luck it may run again.